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Money in the Bank (2016)
Money in the Bank (2016) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event and WWE Network event produced by WWE. It took place on June 19, 2016 at the T-Mobile Arena in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada. It was the seventh event under the Money in the Bank chronology. Eleven matches were contested at the event, with two matches contested on the pre-show. The main event saw Seth Rollins defeat Roman Reigns to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, only to lose it minutes later to Dean Ambrose, who cashed in the Money in the Bank contract he won earlier in the event to defeat Rollins for the title. Also on the card, AJ Styles defeated John Cena. Two days after Money in the Bank, former champion Reigns was suspended for violating WWE's Wellness Program. Production Background WWE's Money in the Bank pay-per-view event centers around a match of the same name, in which multiple wrestlers use ladders to retrieve a briefcase hanging above the ring. The winner is guaranteed a match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at a time of their choosing within the next year. Storylines The card consisted of eleven matches, including two on the preshow, that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches, with results predetermined by WWE's writers. Storylines between the characters played out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown. On November 4, 2015, Seth Rollins was forced to vacate the WWE World Heavyweight Championship due to injury. Rollins returned on May 22, 2016 at Extreme Rules, attacking champion Roman Reigns after his successful title defense against AJ Styles. Rollins was granted a title match against Reigns at Money in the Bank the next night on Raw by Shane McMahon. Meanwhile, critics wondered if WWE was "leaving money on the table" by not slotting Rollins as a face and Reigns as a heel, as this was the opposite of what fans wanted (fans were cheering Rollins and booing Reigns). On the May 30 episode of Raw, John Cena returned after recovering from a shoulder injury that left him out of action for five months. AJ Styles then came out to welcome him back until Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, Styles' former teammates in The Club (which had broken up the previous week on Raw) appeared looking for a fight. Cena and Styles prepared to brawl with them, until Styles attacked Cena alongside Gallows and Anderson, turning heel and reforming The Club in the process. On June 3, a match between Cena and Styles was scheduled for Money in the Bank which WWE labeled as a "WrestleMania Dream Match". On the June 13 episode of Raw, Cena presented Styles with two contracts: one allowing Gallows and Anderson to be in his corner, the other banning them so they could fight uninterrupted, and Styles chose the latter. The winner of the Money in the Bank ladder match will win a contract for a WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at any time within the next year. On the May 23 episode of Raw, Sami Zayn, Cesaro, Chris Jericho, Dean Ambrose, and Kevin Owens all qualified for the match by defeating Sheamus, The Miz, Apollo Crews, Dolph Ziggler, and AJ Styles, respectively. On the May 26 episode of SmackDown, Alberto Del Rio defeated Zack Ryder to qualify for the match. At Payback, the final match in a tournament to determine the #1 contender for the WWE Tag Team Championship, pitting The Vaudevillains (Aiden English and Simon Gotch) against Enzo and Cass, ended in a no contest after Enzo Amore suffered a legit concussion. Subsequently, the Vaudevillains challenged WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day at Extreme Rules in a losing effort. On the May 30 episode of Raw, during a rematch between The Vaudevillains and The New Day, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson attacked The New Day. The following week on Raw, The Vaudevillains defeated Enzo & Cass by disqualification. Later in the night, Gallows and Anderson defeated The New Day. Taking an idea by Teddy Long, Stephanie McMahon scheduled the four teams in a match at Money in the Bank in a Fatal 4-Way match for the WWE Tag Team Championship. On the May 26 episode of SmackDown, after WWE United States Champion Rusev defeated Kalisto to retain the title, Titus O'Neil came out to help Kalisto when Rusev refused to break his Accolade submission hold. On the May 30 episode of Raw, after defeating Zack Ryder, Rusev started to insult the crowd and declared himself a "true American hero", leading to O'Neil coming out and punching Rusev. On June 8, a match between O'Neil and Rusev for the United States Championship was scheduled for Money in the Bank. On the June 13 episode of Raw, Titus O'Neil walked out for his match when Rusev attacked him on the stage and applied the Accolade, as WWE officials tried to pull Rusev off of O'Neil. At Extreme Rules, WWE Women's Champion Charlotte defeated Natalya due to distraction by Dana Brooke dressing as Ric Flair. On the May 23 episode of Raw, Charlotte turnedon her father Ric Flair, claiming he was no longer needed and therefore, aligned herself with Dana Brooke as her protege. On the May 26 episode of SmackDown, Natalya defeated Brooke by disqualification. On the May 30 episode of Raw, after Brooke defeated Natalya, Becky Lynch came out to help Natalya. On the June 2 episode of SmackDown, Lynch defeated Charlotte by disqualification. On the June 9 episode of SmackDown, Lynch defeated Brooke. On June 13, a match pitting Charlotte and Brooke against Natalya and Lynch was scheduled for Money in the Bank. At the Extreme Rules pre-show, Baron Corbin defeated Dolph Ziggler in a No Disqualification match after deliberately using a low blow before the End of Days. The next night on Raw, Ziggler challenged Corbin to a "technical wrestling match" for next week on Raw, which Corbin accepted. On that night Raw, Ziggler was disqualified after deliberately hitting Corbin with a low blow as retaliation for what happened at Extreme Rules. On June 17, another match between the two was scheduled for Money in the Bank. On the May 23 episode of Raw, frustration toward losing his Money in the Bank qualifying match to Sami Zayn earlier in the night, Sheamus attacked Apollo Crews during a backstage interview with Renee Young, telling Crews that he's sick of him promoting the "New Era" and that no one would replace him, leading to Crews losing his Money in the Bank qualifying match to Chris Jericho later in the show. On the June 9 episode of SmackDown, backstage watching the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows movie, Sheamus bragged to Zack Ryder, Goldust, R-Truth, and Summer Rae about how great he was and how everyone should be waiting on him and how he is an A-list star, leading to Apollo Crews confronting Sheamus and punching him, sending Sheamus into a number of cardboard boxes behind him. On the June 13 episode of Raw, after defeating Zack Ryder, Sheamus continued to viciously attack Ryder leading to Crews coming down to help Ryder. On June 17, a match pitting the two was scheduled for Money in the Bank. After Goldust replaced R-Truth with Fandango as his tag team partner in their match in the Team Championship #1 contender tournament on the April 14 episode of SmackDown, R-Truth found a new partner in Tyler Breeze. Following singles match victory on Raw by Breeze over Goldust and R-Truth over Fandango, the two teams faced each other on the May 12 episode of SmackDown; Tyler Breeze and R-Truth defeated Golddust and Fandango when Fandango turned on his partner. After the match, Fandango and Breeze continued to attack Goldust, who was then rescued by R-Truth. After Breezango (Breeze and Fandango's new tag team name) defeated Golden Truth (Goldust and R-Truth) on the May 16 and the May 26 episode of Raw, a third match between the two teams was scheduled on June 17 for the Money in the Bank pre-show. On June 17, a match pitting The Lucha Dragons against The Dudley Boyz was scheduled for the Money in the Bank pre-show. Aftermath The day after Money in the Bank, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins wrestled on Raw for a future shot at Dean Ambrose's world title, which was shortened back to being called the WWE Championship. That match ended in a double count-out, so Ambrose agreed to face both men, and Shane McMahon arranged a triple threat world title match at Battleground. On June 21, two days after Money in the Bank, Roman Reigns was suspended for 30 days for violating WWE's Wellness Program, which uses drug testing to detect substance abuse. Pro Wrestling Torch and TheWrap reported that WWE knew of Reigns's violation before Money in the Bank, leading to Reigns being scripted to lose his world title at the event. WWE continued to advertise Reigns as part of the Battleground main event. In July, Ambrose successfully defended the title in two singles match against Rollins on both Raw and SmackDown before Battleground. On July 19 at the 2016 WWE draft, Ambrose was drafted to SmackDown, bringing the WWE Championship with him, while Rollins and Reigns were drafted to Raw. On July 24 at Battleground, Ambrose defeated Rollins and Reigns by pinning the latter to retain the championship. Results Other on-screen personnel See also * List of WWE pay-per-view events * Money in the Bank Category:Money in the Bank Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events Category:2016 Pay-Per-View Events